Su Jiu forcibly suppressed the urge to slap the [Dragon Saliva Stone] back into Su Ji's face.
She stiffened her expression again, her voice cooling by three degrees.
"Speak."
Seeing Su Jiu's demeanor soften slightly, Su Ji quickly seized the opportunity. "It's crucial."
As expected, though Su Jiu didn't ask directly, her perked ears and slight forward lean betrayed her curiosity.
Su Ji cleared his throat, his exaggerated expression fading as an unprecedented gravity settled over him.
"Junior Sister, do you remember when I asked you if Foundation Establishment requires overcoming a lightning tribulation?"
Su Jiu paused, then nodded without a word.
Su Ji continued, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"When I establish my foundation, there will definitely be a lightning tribulation."
"And not just any ordinary one."
He hesitated, recalling the visions from his glimpse into fate.
"To be precise, it's a divine punishment."
"Once I begin my Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, the divine punishment will descend, covering at least a fifty-mile radius centered on me."
"At that moment, you, me, and everyone in the Love-Longing Sect—every living thing—will be reduced to ashes in an instant."
The cavern fell into a terrifying silence.
Only the distant roars of the fire drake and the bubbling of flowing magma could be heard.
Su Jiu was inclined to believe him.
Su Ji's ability to foresee the future was nothing short of horrifying.
No wonder...
"So, you came here to..."
Su Ji cut her off. "Exactly."
"This is the only solution I could think of."
"Only deep underground, hundreds of meters below the surface, can I possibly evade the divine punishment and complete my Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment!"
The sheer weight of his words left Su Jiu's mind racing as she pieced everything together.
Even in the midst of his life-or-death pursuit of the Dao, Su Ji had still taken the time to retrieve the potentially useful [Dragon Saliva Stone] for her.
Her fingers tightened around the still-warm stone, her knuckles whitening as her clear fox eyes filled with doubt.
"But... Senior Brother, are you certain this place can shield you from the tribulation?"
Her voice carried skepticism as she laid out the facts.
"We're barely a hundred zhang beneath the surface."
"Given what you've described—if the tribulation's power truly spans fifty miles centered on you..."
"This... given its destructive force... there's a ninety percent chance it won't work."
She wasn't questioning him—just stating the obvious.
A hundred zhang underground might seem deep to an ordinary cultivator, but against what Su Ji called a "divine punishment," such distance would hardly be enough.
"Though... the power might be slightly diminished..."
Yet, Su Ji showed no trace of panic.
"I don't know. All I know is that if I stay here, I'll survive the tribulation."
His words shattered Su Jiu's understanding.
How?
If the Heavenly Dao intends to punish you, how could simply changing locations make it relent?
This defied all logic!
"But—"
"Junior Sister." Su Ji interrupted again, leaning in abruptly until their faces were inches apart.
His gaze locked onto her bewildered fox-like eyes.
"Has any future I've foreseen ever deviated from reality?"
Su Jiu fell silent.
No.
Not even the slightest discrepancy.
"I only have one life. I wouldn't gamble with it."
Su Jiu was at a loss for words.
She trusted Su Ji.
But she couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind this.
It contradicted every bit of cultivation knowledge she had learned from her clan's ancient texts.
Seeing her still-furrowed brows, Su Ji abruptly shifted topics.
"Don't waste time worrying about the tribulation."
"Instead, you should focus on... something else."
"What else?"
Su Ji's expression darkened further, more solemn than when he had mentioned the "divine punishment."
"Besides the divine punishment..."
"When I establish my foundation, I'll also trigger... an inner demon."
An inner demon?
Su Jiu froze.
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
Divine punishment and an inner demon?
Anyone listening would think a supreme expert was ascending to the upper realm.
Was this really the kind of spectacle a Qi Refining cultivator should face when breaking through to Foundation Establishment?
Su Ji's troubles seemed even more outrageous than those of a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox like her.
"Are you certain, Senior Brother?"
Her voice wavered slightly.
Su Ji nodded heavily, his face etched with helpless resignation.
"Absolutely."
Su Jiu was truly at a loss now.
Her delicate brows knitted as she frantically combed through her clan's records for any mention of inner demons.
"Inner demons... I know very little."
Her voice was soft, tinged with defeat.
"But like heavenly tribulations, outsiders can hardly interfere."
"I do have some methods to calm the mind and steady the spirit—ways to help you stabilize your consciousness."
"But when it comes to confronting the inner demon... in the end, you'll have to rely on yourself."
The moment she finished speaking, Su Ji's eyes lit up. He seized her hand and began playing with her fingers.
"Any help is better than none!"
Buff or no buff, he'd take what he could get.
Su Jiu was caught off guard by his sudden enthusiasm.
She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but Su Ji only tightened his grip.
"Senior Brother, let go first."
"This... this method is a bit... unconventional."
"How unconventional?"
Her cheeks flushed as she averted her gaze, unable to meet his unnervingly bright eyes.
"It's called [Soul and Flesh Entwined]."
Her voice was barely audible, the last few words likely only reaching her own ears.
"It's a secret art of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox lineage, usable only by those with pure bloodline."
"To perform it, the caster and recipient must... synchronize their minds, merge their spiritual senses, and become one."
Su Ji blinked, baffled.
"Junior Sister, speak plainly. I don’t understand."
Su Jiu bit her lower lip.
"Don’t worry about it. If you truly can’t overcome the inner demon, then we’ll discuss it..."
She doubted it would come to that.
Just look at Su Ji—even while fleeing for his life, he couldn’t resist taunting the fire drake.
How could someone like him possibly have an inner demon?
If anything, the ones developing inner demons should be the people who crossed paths with him.
ress Kneels to Admit Wrong] [Dealing with Love-Struck Fools] [Forced to the Throne] Ren Tianye transmigrated into a female-oriented novel world, only to find everyone in it was utterly insane. He risked his life to save a young girl from barbarians, but was accused of arriving too late and branded the real murderer. He held a knife to a military officer's neck, demanding the troop tally, but the officer only cared about questioning his wife: "Do you not love me anymore? All these years of affection and time together, they were all a mistake, a mistake!" After seizing Yunji City, the original defending general, to save face with the Empress, knelt on the ground: "You must give Yunji City back to me, or I'll hang myself at the city gate and let everyone know you're a villain!" The young lord of the Duke's mansion, to please a woman, directly ordered a merchant: "The menstrual pads you buy for her must be studded with diamonds. Loving her means giving her the best." Having become a great general, he was about to marry a merchant's daughter, who set a pre-nuptial rule: "I can divorce you anytime. When that happens, you must give me half of your troops and soldiers!" Even the Empress was a severe love-struck fool, who ordered the execution of 70,000 elite troops simply because they stood in the way of her romance. Ren Tianye was speechless. He was done. Let it all burn! This deranged female-oriented novel world! ...
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
